


Midnight Snack

by Aridette



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Monsters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Nightmares, baku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 11:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16448885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aridette/pseuds/Aridette
Summary: When Hanzo was young, his mother gave him a talisman. It would grant him protection against the nightmares that plagued him, she had promised. But he had grown up since. He’d become stronger and wiser. Fearless. Even so, the dreams never stopped, and the memories still haunted his every waking hour.That is until a certain cowboy entered his life.





	Midnight Snack

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thanks to [ emotionalmorpine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emotionalmorphine) and [Soap](http://soapasaurus.tumblr.com/) for beta reading!

When Hanzo was young, his mother gave him a talisman. It would grant him protection against the nightmares that plagued him, she had promised. The talisman was small, carved from soft wood. A family heirloom of unknown age. The dark edges spoke of the many owners who held onto it before. But that meant very little to Hanzo then. All he cared about was the gentle warmth that spoke of safety and that the talisman seemed to radiate. He held onto it for countless nights. Same as he held onto the legend of the baku that his mother used to tell. The legend spoke of ancient, mythical beings. Creatures with the head of an elephant, the body of a lion, and flames that followed their path. They lived wherever humans settled. And when called upon in the darkness of the night, they would feast on human nightmares. All it took was a single mantra. Two words repeated thrice.

_Baku kurai, baku kurai, baku kurai._

The times he’d spoken the words when nobody could hear were countless, and the relief he’d felt soon after inexplicable.

But he had grown up since. He’d become stronger and wiser. Fearless. His dragons had taught him the value of mastering his fears before they had a chance to master him. Nevertheless, a ghost of those early memories lingered at the back of his mind. So when he learned what had become of his brother, and the monsters of their past reared their heads again, it was easy to fall back into the habit of calling on a baku to calm himself. 

_Baku kurai, baku kurai, baku kurai._

The mantra helped.   
  
The dreams never stopped, and the memories still haunted his every waking hour. Hours spent awake at night, cursing himself for what he had become.

But the mantra helped. It always had. It always would. Because it had to.

* * *

Hanzo startled awake, his heartbeat frantic and the sound of his blood rushing in his ears. Slowly he eased himself back into a more comfortable position, careful not to rouse McCree, who only huddled closer.

Curling up on the not exactly comfortable seats of Overwatch’s Orca had not granted him the best rest he had ever had, but it was far from the worst. McCree leaned against his shoulder, still fast asleep, a quiet anchor to Hanzo’s troubled mind. His hat rested on a nearby seat; the serape kept both of them warm. All things considered, nothing should have been able to shake Hanzo in that moment.

Nothing except his nightmares.

How was it that his past kept coming back to ruin the present?

“Baku kurai, baku kurai, baku kurai,” Hanzo whispered. It was hardly more than a breath. But apparently enough to wake the sleeping cowboy.

“What you sayin’ there?” McCree mumbled sleepily.

Hanzo tensed involuntarily. He hadn’t meant to wake McCree. “It’s nothing.”

“Didn’t sound like nothin’ to me.”

Hanzo remained quiet. Maybe if he stayed quiet long enough, McCree would simply go back to sleep. It was bad enough that his dreams kept interrupting his own sleep. He wouldn’t keep anyone else up because of some stupid nightmare. Especially not McCree, who already did more for Hanzo than he deserved.

“You know you can tell me, right?”

And Hanzo knew. In the beginning, he wouldn’t have trusted anyone with his past; his thoughts, his secrets. Now he trusted McCree with his life. He’d proven time and time again that he was above judging Hanzo, and that Hanzo’s trust would not be used against him. Not this time. _Never again if I can help it_ , he had promised.

Hanzo wanted to tell McCree. But what purpose would it serve? If a baku couldn’t help, how could McCree?

“Another nightmare?” McCree asked, undeterred. His tone was charming as ever, soft and sleepy as he took Hanzo’s hand to rub soothing circles against the back of it.

Hanzo nodded. He didn’t want to remember the dream for fear of reliving it. But that was only half of the truth. He didn’t want to burden McCree with his darkest thoughts.

“It would be disgraceful to speak of it,” he offered instead.

“Tell me. I hear it helps.”

For a moment Hanzo almost didn’t. 

His mother had told him the tales. About the baku. That they could only help you if you let them. That you had to tell them. Maybe there was something about sharing his worries and fears. Maybe it would help, after all. He sighed and began.

“You know what I did to my brother. I dreamed I was going to confront him, back at our home in Hanamura. Everything looked as it did on that day: the trees, the grounds, even the elders who sent me.” Hanzo huffed, interrupting himself. “They never used his name. In case it could be used against them. But it was clear who I was to call to order and what ‘ _or else’_ entailed.” Hanzo shook his head slightly.. “Only it was not Genji I found. It was me. Younger. The same age I was then. I could see the same stubbornness that I had seen in my brother’s eyes in his. In mine. The same disdain.”

McCree laughed softly against his shoulder. “You still got that look going sometimes.”

Hanzo elbowed him in the side. “Do not mock me.”

McCree chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it, darlin’.”

“Of course not.”

No matter how hard Hanzo tried to be angry with McCree for the things he said, he never could. They were equally rough around the edges and had no qualms about finding out whose were sharper.

“What happened then?” McCree asked as a peace offering.

“I killed him. Me. With the same sword I raised against Genji. With every cut, I felt the blade on my own skin, cutting my own flesh. Yet I couldn’t stop. Not before his—my defiance broke. I killed myself. I was in agony. But I had to.” Hanzo swallowed. “I couldn’t allow _that me_ to live. So I did to him what I did to Genji.”

For a moment they were both quiet—Hanzo trying to keep the memories at bay, and McCree thinking about what he could possibly say.

McCree finally settled on, “That’s not a bad dream, though.”

Hanzo didn’t know what to say. He had been in agony every second until he had startled awake.

“The way I see it, you set things straight with your past,” McCree elaborated. “Seeing yourself and all? You know that’s no longer you. You don’t stand by those decisions anymore. Past you had to go. So you took care of it,” McCree explained. “Don’t get me wrong, there ought to be better ways to deal with it, but in our line of work? Not gonna blame you.”

It took Hanzo a moment to find his words again. “That’s… certainly a unique way to look at it.”

“But am I wrong?” McCree looked up at him for the first time since Hanzo had started to tell him about the dream. Their eyes met, and Hanzo felt himself relax his opposition to McCree’s theory crumbling.

_Was he?_ If Hanzo was being honest with himself, the answer was, “No.”

Hanzo couldn’t help but smile when McCree pressed a soft kiss against the back of his hand.

“Good,” McCree mumbled against his skin. “Then go back to sleep.”

Hanzo sighed, leaning his head against McCree’s. Going back to sleep after a nightmare was never easy. Usually, he would get some tea or a little snack to calm his nerves before slinking back to bed in an attempt to get more rest. As Hanzo pondered his options, he noticed the rations somebody had left out for them by McCree’s hat—nothing more than a couple of protein bars and isotonic water. Apparently, they had napped through their mid-flight lunch. Or dinner. Possibly both. Hanzo couldn't rightly tell, what with how many time zones they had to cross on their way back to base.

“Or…” Hanzo nudged McCree, then nodded at the food.

“You hungry?”   
  
The way Hanzo’s eyes lit up was reason enough for McCree to sit up properly and grab the bars and bottles off to his side.  
  
“Thank you,” Hanzo said, already opening the wrapper. After the first, hasty bite he continued, “Not just for this, but also for listening.”  
  
McCree chuckled and sipped at his water. “It was the least I could do.”

“Hmm.” It was one of the things that puzzled Hanzo about McCree. He could just say these things as though they were a fact. Most people wouldn’t care about his bad dreams, much less listen to him retelling one. But McCree wasn’t most people. That much, Hanzo knew.

He blinked in surprise when McCree waved another protein bar in front of his eyes.

“You spaced out there for a little,” McCree explained.

“Sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be.” McCree smiled. “Here, you can have mine too.” McCree held the bar out for him. “I’m not really hungry.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Don’t you worry your pretty li’l head. I’m feeling quite stuffed.”

That didn’t make much sense, but Hanzo was beginning to feel sleepy and sated enough to let it pass for the time being.

A little later though, as Hanzo was about to fall asleep against McCree once more, he wondered if perhaps he had missed some parts of those old stories. The parts where it’s written that a baku could appear in whatever shape it pleased.

Surely a cowboy hat in this day and age was no more outlandish than an elephant’s head? And could it be that some of them had soft, wavy hair instead of unruly manes? A lion’s resolve must have accounted for as much as a lion’s body. And maybe, just maybe, the fire in a baku’s steps was the same warmth they left within the hearts of those they visited.

It would explain so much about McCree. Even the way he made Hanzo feel. Safe, protected, loved. Just as his mother’s baku talisman had done.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> If you want to read about more monsters, cryptids, and McHanzo, consider checking out the new Charity Zine [Strange Oddities](https://toashesfanzine.tumblr.com/post/178859250394/strange-oddities-a-mchanzo-fanzine-is-here-the).


End file.
